- Collection:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Title:
- Bernice Johnson Reagon (b. 1942)
- Creator:
- Hatfield, Edward A.
- Publisher:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Date of Original:
- 2007-11-02
- Subject:
- Albany State College
Spelman College
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution--Officials and employees
American University--Faculty
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Albany Chapter
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
Harambee Singers
Howard University
Sweet Honey in the Rock (Musical group)
Wade in the water (Television program)
Eyes on the prize (Television program)
We shall overcome (Television program)
Civil rights--Georgia
Civil rights--United States
African Americans--Civil rights
African Americans--Civil rights--Georgia
Race relations
Georgia--Race relations--History--20th century
United States--Race relations--History--20th century
African Americans--Social conditions--1964-1975
African Americans--Social conditions--1975-
African Americans--Social life and customs
African Americans--Intellectual life--20th century
African Americans--Music
African Americans--Songs and music
African American singers--Georgia
Singers--Georgia
Singers--United States
African American choral conductors
Choirs (Music)--Georgia
Vocal groups--Georgia
Vocal groups--United States
Women singers--United States
African American women singers--United States
Civil rights movements--Georgia
Civil rights movements--United States
Civil rights workers--Georgia
Civil rights workers--United States
African American civil rights workers
African American civil rights workers--Georgia
African American students--Georgia
Student movements--Georgia
Student expulsion--Georgia
Arrest--Georgia--Albany
Civil rights demonstrations--Georgia
Civil rights demonstrations--United States
African American political activists--Georgia
African Americans--Political activity
Political participation--Georgia
Political participation--United States
Fund raising--Georgia
Fund raising--United States
Georgia--Politics and government--20th century
Georgia--History--20th century
African American historians--United States
Museum curators--Washington (D.C.)
Museums--Employees
Universities and colleges--Faculty
Social change--United States
Protest songs--United States
Religion and social problems--United States
Religion and politics--United States
Black Consciousness Movement of South Africa
D.C. Black Repertory Company
Freedom Singers (Musical group : Albany, Ga.)
Albany Movement (Albany, Ga.) - People:
- Reagon, Cordell Hull, 1943-1996
Reagon, Bernice Johnson, 1942- - Location:
- United States, District of Columbia, Washington, 38.89511, -77.03637
United States, Georgia, Dougherty County, Albany, 31.57851, -84.15574
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798 - Medium:
- articles
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- text/html
- Description:
- Encyclopedia article about Bernice Johnson Reagon who distinguished herself during the civil rights movement as a committed student activist and gifted musician whose powerful voice led freedom songs in her native Albany and beyond. Since then, she has made significant contributions to the field of African American cultural history as a historian at the Smithsonian Institution and at American University, both of which are located in Washington, D.C. Reagon was born on October 4, 1942, in Albany, Georgia, where she received religious training and was introduced at an early age to the power of song in the black choral tradition. In 1959 she entered Albany State College (later Albany State University), where she studied music and became politically active in the student chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later became a student leader in the Albany Movement. She also participated in Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) demonstrations in 1961 for which she was arrested and expelled from Albany State. After a brief stint at Spelman College in Atlanta, she joined the Freedom Singers, an Albany-based choral group that toured the country to raise money for SNCC's civil rights campaigns. When her marriage to Cordell Reagon, a fellow Freedom Singer, ended in divorce in 1967, Reagon returned to Atlanta to continue her education, and founded the Harambee Singers, an all-female choral group that experimented with black-nationalist themes. After completing her degree at Spelman in 1970, she moved to Washington D.C., where she entered a Ph.D. program in history at Howard University, which she completed in 1975. While at Howard, she founded Sweet Honey in the Rock, an a capella choral group featuring a revolving cast of female performers. Since its inception in 1973, the group has earned international renown for its sophisticated harmonies, socially conscious repertoire, and captivating performances. Reagon retired from the group in 2004, after thirty years. In 1974 Reagon joined the staff at the Smithsonian Institution, where she worked for almost twenty years and helped expand the museum's mission to include a greater focus on minority contributions to American life. In 1989 Reagon received a MacArthur Foundation grant, and thereafter devoted her time to the student of African American sacred song and worship traditions. Her research resulted in the 1994 Peabody Award-winning radio series, Wade in the Water, sponsored by the Smithsonian and National Public Radio. She also contributed to the landmark PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize (1987) series and to We Shall Overcome (1989), an Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary. Reagon received an appointment as distinguished professor of history at American University in 1993, and was named curator emeritus at the Smithsonian in 1994.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata.
GSE identifier: SS8H11 - Metadata URL:
- https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/bernice-johnson-reagon-b-1942/
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- If you wish to use content from the NGE site for commercial use, publication, or any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, you must request and receive written permission from the NGE. Such requests may be directed to: Permissions/NGE, University of Georgia Press, 330 Research Drive, Athens, GA 30602.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: "[article name]," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.
- Contributing Institution:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia (Project)
- Rights:
-
